Spezialradmesse in Germersheim, Germany is probably my favorite bike show ever. This year’s was no exception. There weren’t as many new product introductions as last year from the major manufacturers, but the crowds definitely didn’t seem to mind! This was the most packed that I’ve ever seen the place.

The joy of Spezi is that everywhere you look, there’s something interesting. Even if it just makes you ask, “Why would someone do that?” This year, (although I still covered the big guys) I delved a bit more into some of the smaller and/or new companies. Here is just a small portion of the cool stuff that I saw there.

Lots of folks are asking, “So what did you actually see at the world’s largest recumbent event?” Accompanied by lots of pictures Bryan Ball, Lars Komm and I will share our experiences with you today at 2 pm EDT. Join us for our “Kids in a candy shop” discussion along with Denny Voorhees with the latest bent sports and Peter Stull with his segment on the history of folding bents.

Spezialradmesse (or “Spezi” as we all call it) is hands-down the coolest bike show in the world. In German, it means “Special Bike Show” and that is a very accurate moniker. Even if you don’t want to buy what’s in the individual booths, it’s still interesting. The food is amazing, the people are amazing and the atmosphere is amazing. I was fortunate to have my wife, Lori with me this year and she shot a lot of photos that truly capture the spirit of the show. Here are some of the best. I’ll let the photos do the talking. The article with the nerdy bike-specific content is coming in the next day or two. Read More »

We still have one to show you as soon as the doors open at the 2018 Spezi show here in Germany, but here are photos of two of the three new concept trikes that the geniuses at ICE have come up with. These aren’t production, but I bet at least a couple of them will make it to the dealers in some form. Full details after the jump. Read More »

By BRYAN J. BALL

Managing Editor

Cruzbike has been coming fast and furious with new models lately. All stick to Cruzbike’s tried and true Moving Bottom Bracket/Front Wheel Drive (MBB/FWD) layout but all three are unique. First was the new T50 entry-level bike, followed by the updated S40 and V20 performance models. Now their mid-range has gotten some attention with the new Q45.

The Q45 is being marketed as an “adventure bike” and it definitely fits the bill. It has rear suspension, can be packed into a pretty small package for travel and can carry all of the racks and panniers that one could ever need. Read More »

German bentriders have faithfully followed Maria Jeanne Dompierre AKA Liegeradfrau.de for quite some time. Liegerad Frau means recumbent riding lady and Maria’s blog and YouTube channel are filled with interesting and amusing interviews, stories and reviews all about bents. On today’s Laidback Bike Report we will interview her to find out what’s different about bent riding as a woman and how knowing this is important for both genders. Speaking of lady bent riders we hope to check in with Sylvia Halpern live in Central America where she is currently on an extended trike tour to explore the Mayan ruins. ‘BentRider Online’s Bryan Ball will talk about a couple of new trikes, Peter Stull the Bicycle Man will talk about the early days of the BikeE and Dennis Voorhees will bring us up to date on the upcoming Ultraracing season. We’ll do another live quiz contest and share the latest on our upcoming trip to Germany to cover Spezi. You won’t want to miss this show!

By BRYAN J. BALL

Managing Editor

I love to cook. Sometimes I read a recipe and think, “No way that’s gonna work.” Then I make it and it totally does. That was exactly my experience with AZUB’s FAT trike with the Shimano STEPS E8000 electric motor assist. I’ll summarize here at the end, but suffice to say, riding what is basically an ATV that you can pedal on mountain bike trails is more than a little bit of fun. Read More »

Full suspension combined with 26″ wheels. That’s what makes our Ti-FLY X a unique machine calling for long rides that will soon become extreme. And it doesn’t really matter what you call extreme – it may be the distance cycled on a paved road, the roughness of terrain or the amount of endorphin that you produce during the ride. You can say from the first look that Ti FLY X is a special vehicle. It unites in itself all our innovative designs, our passion for traveling and love for off-road fun. Basically, it’s a synonym for extreme cycling in all its forms.

The big news in the recumbent world this past week centers around Craig Calfee. It is his intention to purchase a company bearing the name beloved by many-Easy Racers. Craig will be on our show today to talk about his plans and listen to suggestion you might have for him. He will also give us a tour of Calfee Designs where he currently develops and builds his bikes.

Next well have Jeff Bishop a pretty cool high school teacher who designs and builds things and shares the process with his students. His latest is a velomobile design based on a WWII fighter plane. You won’t want to miss his presentation showing what he’s done.

In keeping with the home build theme Peter Stull will bring us the next in his series of recumbent history. He’ll be talking about home builds that eventually found their way into production.

By Larry Varney & Bryan J. Ball

Larry’s comments…

My first encounter with the 2018 Catrike 700 was at this past year’s Recumbent Cycle-Con. I honestly didn’t know what changes there would be from the 2017 model, and at first glance, it didn’t appear to be any different at all. But when I looked closer, I noticed that it now had a rear disc brake, and the seat was changed, too.It was only later that I was told that the rear wheel setup was changed as well, now using a solid rear axle (a “Thru-Axle”), and not a quick-release. I remember thinking at the time – no big deal. And then I took one outside for a test ride. Read More »

By BRYAN J. BALL

Managing Editor

The HP Velotechnik Gekko FX was introduced in 2011 as the first folding tadpole trikes ever produced that kept the seat attached. The fold was shockingly fast and easy and has been often-imitated. The model has gone through a few iterations over the years and for 2018, HP Velotechnik has introduced a very interesting US-Specific model.

The new Gekko 26 features a non-folding frame, a 26” rear wheel and an outstanding base-price of only $1890. That makes this new trike the least-expensive HP Velotechnik trike ever. And on an even better note, it’s difficult to see where they cut the costs. Read More »

Last weekend’s Sebring bike racing was dominated by recumbents. We have many of the winners on today’s show! Dave Lewis became the center of the ultra racing world last Sunday by riding 674 miles in 24 hours. Jim Parker and Larry Oslund were part of a CRUZBIKE team that won the 1st 6 places in the 100 miles race. I’ll chat with these racing wonders about why they do this to themselves, their experience at Sebring and find out why it is they encourage more of us to get into racing. We’ll have Peter Stull take us back to the early years of bent racing in his regular recumbent bike history segment. A late addition is Charles Coyne who is going to announce the details of a new bent racing event to be held in conjunction with Recumbent Cycle-Con in Nashville next October (https://www.recumbentcyclecon.com/). ‘BentRider Online‘s Bryan Ball and Denny Voorhees are back to give us the bent news and sports as they do each month.

It’s that time of year, when the cold and snow makes (most of) us want to stay inside where it’s warm and dry. And yet, there are stirrings, thouights of a future when we can not only venture outside, but perhaps load up our bikes and trikes and go on a trip! Self-contained or supported, at this point we just want to GO, regardless. But we do need to do some prior planning, some preparation, and two things we need to consider are these: what do we need to carry, and how are we going to do that? And that’s where the subject of this review leads us – the Arkel RT-40 Recumbent Panniers (https://www.arkel-od.com/en/rt-40.html). Read More »

Some of you may know the source of the title of this article – a book on the history of chili, by Joe Cooper. (Which, incidentally, is out of print, so if you’re looking for a birthday present for me, well, I digress.) As you might suspect, it does cover one of the most contentious items in the ingedients of chili – that is, does “real” chili have beans or not. If you think that Ford vs. Chevy can lead to some heated arguments, wait until you hear the discussions between chili fans! In fact, another book was written that dealt with this very topic, “The Great Chili Confrontation”, by H. Allen Smith. Seriously, I recommend this book highly – it led to the first chili cook-off, and to the annual gatherings we still see today. At this point, many of you are probably thinking: when is he going to start talking about trikes? Now. Read More »

By BRYAN J. BALL

Managing Editor

25 years ago, a little recumbent company with a big name opened its doors in a suburb of Frankfurt, Germany. Paul Hollants and Daniel Pulvermüller began the company with the idea of making high-quality, durable recumbents with a touring/commuting-oriented slant. Now, a quarter-century later, HP Velotechnik has become an innovative and major driving force in the recumbent bike industry. Read More »

Today on the Laidback Bike Report, we have the builder of the “Quadyak” amphibious quad, the introduction of new segment about historical recumbents with Peter Stull of The Bicycle Man and Bryan will talk about the Bike, Trike and Accessory of the Year Awards! LIVE today at 2 PM or viewable thereafter on YouTube.

The time is here!!! It’s time to cast your vote for 2017 BentRider Recumbent of the Year! Due to our nomination rules (must be new or majorly revised for 2017 and widely available at the end of the calendar year) the list is a bit short again year but there are a lot of great options! And if I missed one feel free to let me know but PLEASE keep the rules in mind. Learn how to cast your vote below!

PLEASE read this entire article carefully. If you email with questions that are clearly explained in the following article I will not respond. We get A LOT of emails related to this. Read More »

On the Laidback Bike Report today, Charles Coyne, organizer of Recumbent Cycle Con (RCC) has announced that the event will be in Nashville, Tennessee at the Nashville Fairgrounds on October 12-14th, 2018. The venue gives the opportunity for an excellent test track and possibly even some racing! Very excited to attend and exhibit again next year.

This week on the Laid Back Bike Report! December 10th at 2 pm EST (6 pm UTC) we will be live with a look at what’s happening in the world of Velomobiles in 2017. From Dallas Doug Davis talks about his cross country PAC tour in his velomobile and his thoughts on long distance racing in a velo. John Williams chats with us from London about his recent velo crash into a car at 25 mph. We also have Sinner Bikes velomobile guru Harry Leiben on from the Netherlands to tell us all about the newest Velo in development in the Netherlands–the Hilgo. Bryan and Denny give us their reports on the news and sports and we’ll continue with another contest segment for our live viewers. We should have a surprise announcement about RCC and tell you about the winners of the TerraCycle photo contest as well so don’t miss this last episode of the year from the Laidback Bike Report.